This class provides new and current Ceramics, Glass, Jewelry + Metalsmithing students with a comprehensive safety orientation for future use of the wood facility in the Fine Arts Division. Instructor will orient students in the safe operation of stationary machines in the wood facility, including the miter saw, band saw, table saw, disc sander, drum sander, drill press, and panel saw. Instruction will also be provided for different ways of building and joining with wood through the use of hand tools and stationary machines. Passing this course is required in order to use all machines in the Fine Arts wood facility.

Elective

This class provides new and current Ceramics, Glass, Jewelry + Metalsmithing students with a comprehensive safety orientation for future use of the wood facility in the Fine Arts Division. Instructor will orient students in the safe operation of stationary machines in the wood facility, including the miter saw, band saw, table saw, disc sander, drum sander, drill press, and panel saw. Instruction will also be provided for different ways of building and joining with wood through the use of hand tools and stationary machines. Passing this course is required in order to use all machines in the Fine Arts wood facility.

Elective

Transitional spaces are areas that exist between different environments, states, or land uses. Dynamic and liminal, they are shaped by a diverse array of factors, from climate change to gentrification and urban redevelopment. In this 4-week course, students will explore various transitional spaces in Mexico City and its surroundings to create a series of experimental short films that reflect on the evolving nature of these environments, their impact on local communities, and the broader socio-environmental phenomena at play. Simultaneously, they will engage in critical thinking about the changing urban landscape by engaging with readings and films dealing with questions of borders, Third Spaces, human-nonhuman interaction, colonial histories of photography and filmmaking, capitalist and decolonial ideas of time and space, nature of being, and cyborg and other feminist ontologies. 

Born and raised in Mexico City, Associate Professor of Design (EFS) Adela Goldbard has deep roots in the city's artistic landscape. Having developed her career in this vibrant metropolis where she continues to actively engage with its contemporary arts community, institutions, and initiatives. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at prominent venues and galleries across the city, including Casa del Lago, Centro de la Imagen, Poliforum Cultural Siqueiros, and Galería Enrique Guerrero. Goldbard’s extensive connections with artists, scholars, curators, gallerists, and critics in Mexico City will be invaluable for the proposed course, as many would be eager to contribute to its success. The co-teaching by Ijlal Muzaffar will prove invaluable for exploring how change is imagined, controlled and subverted in peripheral spaces. Ijlal holds a PhD in architectural history of modernism in the Global South and has published extensively on politics of Third World development and globalization in the post WWII era. His recent book, Modernism’s Magical Hat: Architecture and the Illusion of Development without Capital (University of Texas Press, 2024) charts how different modes and mediums of imagining change, from architectural design to film and photography, make only certain ways of imagining the past and the future appear natural and viable while erasing all others.

This course is a co-requisite. Students must also register for THAD 1565 - *MEXICO: MEXICO CITY: EXPERIMENTAL FILMMAKING AS RESEARCH - SENSING TRADITIONAL SPACES.

Registration is not available in Workday. All students are required to remain in good academic standing in order to participate in the Wintersession travel course/studio. A minimum GPA of 2.50 is required. Failure to remain in good academic standing can lead to removal from the course, either before or during the course. Also in cases where Wintersession travel courses and studios do not reach student capacity, the course may be cancelled after the last day of Wintersession travel course registration. As such, all students are advised not to purchase flights for participation in Wintersession travel courses until the course is confirmed to run, which happens within the week after the final Wintersession travel course registration period.

Elective

This studio course examines the power of monuments, memory, and storytelling as vital tools for preserving histories and truths at risk of being erased. Through critical inquiry and creative practice, students will investigate how individuals and communities commemorate the past, confront grief, and reinterpret symbols of collective memory. Guiding questions will frame the work: How do we honor what is being erased? How do we educate across generations and nations? How do we reimagine the meaning of monuments within today’s struggles for justice and belonging?

Interdisciplinary in scope, the course weaves together research, discussion, and studio practice in collaboration with partners beyond the classroom. Students will engage with community leaders, national nonprofits, and initiatives such as Monument Lab, a nonprofit public art, history, and design studio, as well as the Emmett Till Memory Project and locally based arts and cultural programs. Assignments will balance independent exploration with collaborative outcomes, drawing on 2D and 3D media, digital platforms, and experimental methods of making. By the end of the course, students will have produced interventions that address both local and global contexts of commemoration, creating design practices that preserve, question, and expand how stories are remembered.

Elective

This course provides a focused investigation into descriptive sketching as a tool for visual communication across disciplines. Students will examine a range of effective techniques for translating complex concepts into clear, accessible hand-drawn visuals. Emphasis will be placed on rapid ideation, visual problem-solving, and the capacity of sketching to function as a shared language across cultural and professional contexts. Through structured exercises and iterative practice, students will develop strategies for determining appropriate levels of detail and clarity in response to a variety of scenarios. The course aims to cultivate sketching as a transferable skill, relevant to a broad spectrum of 21st-century career paths.

Coursework will include regular group critiques, during which students will analyze the clarity, execution, and communicative effectiveness of peer work. In addition, students will be encouraged to explore innovative approaches to visual storytelling, with a focus on refining their ability to convey narrative and information predominantly through visual means.

Elective

During this course, we will examine natural environments, systems, processes, and organisms with the intent to design a more circular and less harmful human-planet relationship. Students will embark on a creative and rigorous exploration of the deep biomimicry and biodesign methodology put forth by the RISD Nature Lab as a pathway toward innovative materials, products, manufacturing methods, services, and experiences. These materials and methods will be placed in context to support the Hyundai Motor Group’s research on the future of mobility, creating design solutions that demonstrate our discoveries’ real-world applications and potential impacts.

Particular focus will be placed on advanced Biodesign research techniques such as microscopy imaging, 3D scanning, material & process development & testing, consultation with scientific experts, and referencing scientific research. Advanced techniques for biomimicry design will also be introduced, including complex generative and assistive 3D modelling with Grasshopper, nTopology, and Fusion 360, high-performance additive manufacturing, and other tools for translation of biological strategies and structures into the built environment.

The fall curriculum and assignments include observation from nature, and a series of short introductory assignments focused on exploring the deep biomimicry design process and biomaterials. The final month of the semester is focused on student-directed exploratory research into a biodesign theme. The final assignment will include scientific literature review, sketching and early prototyping, proof of concept experiments, and works-like or looks-like models of the students’ design at scale. Students will end the semester with a brief, but in-depth, documentation of their research focus that will either remain in the Hyundai Regeneration Studio online archive, or they may continue to explore in the Spring Advanced Studio.

A close partnership with the RISD Nature Lab and the ID Department will provide access to the expertise and equipment necessary to complete student-driven research.

This course features a series of guest lectures, field trips, and demonstrations throughout the semester to provide insight into the quickly expanding field of biodesign and regenerative design, as well as expert guest critics.

During this course, we will examine natural environments, systems, processes, and organisms with the intent to design a more circular and less harmful human-planet relationship. Students will embark on a creative and rigorous exploration of the deep biomimicry and biodesign methodology put forth by the RISD Nature Lab as a pathway toward innovative materials, products, manufacturing methods, services, and experiences. These materials and methods will be placed in context to support the Hyundai Motor Group’s research on the future of mobility, creating design solutions that demonstrate our discoveries’ real-world applications and potential impacts.

Particular focus will be placed on advanced Biodesign research techniques such as microscopy imaging, 3D scanning, material & process development & testing, consultation with scientific experts, and referencing scientific research. Advanced techniques for biomimicry design will also be introduced, including complex generative and assistive 3D modelling with Grasshopper, nTopology, and Fusion 360, high-performance additive manufacturing, and other tools for translation of biological strategies and structures into the built environment.

The fall curriculum and assignments include observation from nature, and a series of short introductory assignments focused on exploring the deep biomimicry design process and biomaterials. The final month of the semester is focused on student-directed exploratory research into a biodesign theme. The final assignment will include scientific literature review, sketching and early prototyping, proof of concept experiments, and works-like or looks-like models of the students’ design at scale. Students will end the semester with a brief, but in-depth, documentation of their research focus that will either remain in the Hyundai Regeneration Studio online archive, or they may continue to explore in the Spring Advanced Studio.

A close partnership with the RISD Nature Lab and the ID Department will provide access to the expertise and equipment necessary to complete student-driven research.

This course features a series of guest lectures, field trips, and demonstrations throughout the semester to provide insight into the quickly expanding field of biodesign and regenerative design, as well as expert guest critics.

During this course, we will examine natural environments, systems, processes, and organisms with the intent to design a more circular, and less harmful human-planet relationship. Students will embark on a creative and rigorous exploration of the deep biomimicry and biodesign methodology put forth by the RISD Nature Lab as a pathway toward innovative materials, products, manufacturing methods, services, and experiences. These materials and methods will be placed in context to support the Hyundai Motor Group’s research on the future of mobility, creating design solutions that demonstrate our discoveries’ real-world applications and potential impacts.

Particular focus will be placed on advanced Biodesign research techniques such as microscopy imaging, 3D scanning, material & process development & testing, consultation with scientific experts, and referencing scientific research.

The spring curriculum and assignments will provide structured support for a deep dive into student-directed biodesign research. Bi-weekly demos build the technical skill set students need including a further exploration of biomaterials, generative modeling, additive manufacturing, public speaking, and product photography. Guest lecturers and reviews will provide bi-weekly feedback and guidance in addition to the teaching team. Frequent check-ins support students in their larger research arc, including a focus on broader design frameworks of Design Justice and user interviews. 

The final outcome of the semester will be students’ documentation and write-up of their research process that will remain in the Regeneration Studio online archive, as well as an advanced and functional prototype.

A close partnership with the RISD Nature Lab and the ID Department will provide access to the expertise and equipment necessary to complete student-driven research topics.

This course features a series of guest lectures, field trips, and demonstrations throughout the semester to provide insight into the quickly expanding field of biodesign and regenerative design, as well as expert guest critics.

Note: The activities in this course are a continuation of fall research conducted in the HMG-sponsored course: IDISC 2117 - Biodesign Practicum, which is a prerequisite.

Elective

During this course, we will examine natural environments, systems, processes, and organisms with the intent to design a more circular, and less harmful human-planet relationship. Students will embark on a creative and rigorous exploration of the deep biomimicry and biodesign methodology put forth by the RISD Nature Lab as a pathway toward innovative materials, products, manufacturing methods, services, and experiences. These materials and methods will be placed in context to support the Hyundai Motor Group’s research on the future of mobility, creating design solutions that demonstrate our discoveries’ real-world applications and potential impacts.

Particular focus will be placed on advanced Biodesign research techniques such as microscopy imaging, 3D scanning, material & process development & testing, consultation with scientific experts, and referencing scientific research.

The spring curriculum and assignments will provide structured support for a deep dive into student-directed biodesign research. Bi-weekly demos build the technical skill set students need including a further exploration of biomaterials, generative modeling, additive manufacturing, public speaking, and product photography. Guest lecturers and reviews will provide bi-weekly feedback and guidance in addition to the teaching team. Frequent check-ins support students in their larger research arc, including a focus on broader design frameworks of Design Justice and user interviews. 

The final outcome of the semester will be students’ documentation and write-up of their research process that will remain in the Regeneration Studio online archive, as well as an advanced and functional prototype.

A close partnership with the RISD Nature Lab and the ID Department will provide access to the expertise and equipment necessary to complete student-driven research topics.

This course features a series of guest lectures, field trips, and demonstrations throughout the semester to provide insight into the quickly expanding field of biodesign and regenerative design, as well as expert guest critics.

Note: The activities in this course are a continuation of fall research conducted in the HMG-sponsored course: IDISC 2117 - Biodesign Practicum, which is a prerequisite.

Elective

Turning an idea into a sustainable reality requires a fundamental understanding of business, but the frameworks that guide business principles overlap, complement, and enhance design principles. This course seeks to educate students to understand business as a critical design factor- a defining constraint or liberating perspective along the same lines that other design principles are taught. The guiding principle is that design and business are inextricably linked: Design work is intrinsically linked to business and will always be at the service of business, fulfilling the need for an enterprise (profit or non-profit) whose business model is critical to its survival. Design will find new channels, new outlets, through a more complete understanding of business needs and how businesses see opportunity. Design can and should be considered as critical strategic input for business. The objective of Business Principles: Design and Entrepreneurship is for students to understand basic business vocabulary, to explore how design vocabulary and design processes overlap, complement and enhance business vocabulary, and to understand how design thinking skills can be used to identify and execute business opportunities.

Elective

Turning an idea into a sustainable reality requires a fundamental understanding of business, but the frameworks that guide business principles overlap, complement, and enhance design principles. This course seeks to educate students to understand business as a critical design factor- a defining constraint or liberating perspective along the same lines that other design principles are taught. The guiding principle is that design and business are inextricably linked: Design work is intrinsically linked to business and will always be at the service of business, fulfilling the need for an enterprise (profit or non-profit) whose business model is critical to its survival. Design will find new channels, new outlets, through a more complete understanding of business needs and how businesses see opportunity. Design can and should be considered as critical strategic input for business. The objective of Business Principles: Design and Entrepreneurship is for students to understand basic business vocabulary, to explore how design vocabulary and design processes overlap, complement and enhance business vocabulary, and to understand how design thinking skills can be used to identify and execute business opportunities.

Elective

In the NCSS Core Seminar, students explore key issues in nature-culture-sustainability studies, developing an interdisciplinary understanding of the need for integrative approaches to issues including mobility and infrastructure, environmental justice and equity, sustainable food and water systems and the very real present and future of climate change. Beginning with definitions of nature and natural systems, drawn from environmental literature and history, we will dig into questions of what we mean by "culture" and "sustainability". The vitality of the ecologic and social and built environment upon which we all depend will form the core of our investigations. How and where we live matters; in the present Anthropocene, questions of resiliency and adaptation take on ever greater urgency. We will study contemporary conditions with examples from across the globe, with an eye to understanding how innovation and creative practices in art and design impact future planetary health. This course lays the foundation for students pursuing the NCSS concentration. The seminar will include lectures and discussions of readings and case studies. Occasional guests will include scientists, designers and others engaged at the forefront of environmental activism and research. Students may ground their final course project in a topic connected to their own work, relating it to their major or another concentration, in addition to NCSS.

Open to Sophomore, Junior and Seniors

Elective

In the NCSS Core Seminar, students explore key issues in nature-culture-sustainability studies, developing an interdisciplinary understanding of the need for integrative approaches to issues including mobility and infrastructure, environmental justice and equity, sustainable food and water systems and the very real present and future of climate change. Beginning with definitions of nature and natural systems, drawn from environmental literature and history, we will dig into questions of what we mean by "culture" and "sustainability". The vitality of the ecologic and social and built environment upon which we all depend will form the core of our investigations. How and where we live matters; in the present Anthropocene, questions of resiliency and adaptation take on ever greater urgency. We will study contemporary conditions with examples from across the globe, with an eye to understanding how innovation and creative practices in art and design impact future planetary health. This course lays the foundation for students pursuing the NCSS concentration. The seminar will include lectures and discussions of readings and case studies. Students may ground their final course project in a topic connected to their own work, relating it to their major or another concentration, in addition to NCSS.

To deepen our interdisciplinary exploration of nature–culture–sustainability studies and to bring both NCSS Core seminar cohorts together, this course includes a shared lecture series (about six sessions per semester). These events will feature guest speakers—scientists, designers, and environmental leaders—who are working at the forefront of research and activism. They will share their insights, experiences, and current projects with us, offering new perspectives to enrich our seminar discussions.

Note: The lectures are scheduled for Wednesdays from 5:00-6:00.

Elective

In the NCSS Core Seminar, students explore key issues in nature-culture-sustainability studies, developing an interdisciplinary understanding of the need for integrative approaches to issues including mobility and infrastructure, environmental justice and equity, sustainable food and water systems and the very real present and future of climate change. Beginning with definitions of nature and natural systems, drawn from environmental literature and history, we will dig into questions of what we mean by "culture" and "sustainability". The vitality of the ecologic and social and built environment upon which we all depend will form the core of our investigations. How and where we live matters; in the present Anthropocene, questions of resiliency and adaptation take on ever greater urgency. We will study contemporary conditions with examples from across the globe, with an eye to understanding how innovation and creative practices in art and design impact future planetary health. This course lays the foundation for students pursuing the NCSS concentration. The seminar will include lectures and discussions of readings and case studies. Occasional guests will include scientists, designers and others engaged at the forefront of environmental activism and research. Students may ground their final course project in a topic connected to their own work, relating it to their major or another concentration, in addition to NCSS.

Open to Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Graduate Students.

Elective

In the NCSS Core Seminar, students explore key issues in nature-culture-sustainability studies, developing an interdisciplinary understanding of the need for integrative approaches to issues including mobility and infrastructure, environmental justice and equity, sustainable food and water systems and the very real present and future of climate change. Beginning with definitions of nature and natural systems, drawn from environmental literature and history, we will dig into questions of what we mean by "culture" and "sustainability". The vitality of the ecologic and social and built environment upon which we all depend will form the core of our investigations. How and where we live matters; in the present Anthropocene, questions of resiliency and adaptation take on ever greater urgency. We will study contemporary conditions with examples from across the globe, with an eye to understanding how innovation and creative practices in art and design impact future planetary health. This course lays the foundation for students pursuing the NCSS concentration. The seminar will include lectures and discussions of readings and case studies. Students may ground their final course project in a topic connected to their own work, relating it to their major or another concentration, in addition to NCSS.

To deepen our interdisciplinary exploration of nature–culture–sustainability studies and to bring both NCSS Core seminar cohorts together, this course includes a shared lecture series (about six sessions per semester). These events will feature guest speakers—scientists, designers, and environmental leaders—who are working at the forefront of research and activism. They will share their insights, experiences, and current projects with us, offering new perspectives to enrich our seminar discussions.

Note: The lectures are scheduled for Wednesdays from 5:00-6:00.

Elective

In this course, we will make solo and collaborative performance works. We will approach performance as the project of creating new contexts for interrelation–between beings, material, matter, the known, and the unknown–that allow both the performer and the viewer to learn and/or experience something we otherwise would not have access to. In other words, the work of this class is the work of listening in the direction of something you can’t quite yet hear, and taking the time to figure out: where you might stand, what device you might invent, what you might wear, and how you might work with the resonance of the room, to get closer to hearing it. We will turn towards the body as intelligent in its own right and build personal movement practices that steer our making. We will then turn to the generation of sculpture, video, sound, and texts that scaffold, augment, reverberate, and challenge that physical action. 

Course material will draw from contemporary dance practices, somatics, embodied cognition, and queer theory, among other sources. We will practice expanding our attention beyond the boundaries of the art object to include the processes of production, reception, effort, transmission, collaboration, interdependence, decay and forgetting that locate art in time, space, and community. No prior movement experience necessary.

Elective

Entrepreneurship--the imagining, building and sustaining of socially impactful organizations--is a creative art. It requires insights and knowledge from the humanities and the social and physical sciences, and demands self-awareness and purpose. The premise of this lecture course is that designers and artists are uniquely gifted with critical entrepreneurial qualities. This course will allow students to better understand how and where their skills and perspectives fit into the world of entrepreneurship and business. The objective of Design and Entrepreneurial Thinking is for students to understand a basic business vocabulary, to explore how design vocabulary and design processes overlap, complement and enhance business vocabulary, and to understand how design thinking skills can be used to identify and execute business opportunities. This course seeks to educate students to recognize business as a critical design factor--a defining constraint or liberating perspective-along the same lines that other design principles are taught. This course will use Harvard Business School case notes, case studies, and recent business books to highlight this thinking. Students will be introduced to basic business concepts through lectures, case studies, assignments and class discussion. Homework assignments will work off the classroom pedagogy. Topics covered will be business models, marketing, finance, and strategy.

Elective

In this collaborative studio between furniture design and architecture, students will create furnishings that respond to and engage with a particular, culturally significant setting: the architecture of Louis Kahn. Louis Kahn is considered to be one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, known for a unique vision of Modernism — monumentality with material austerity. Students will study the life and works of Kahn, which included both architecture and furniture. The class will visit nearby significant Kahn projects, which may include the Yale Art Gallery, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Phillips Exeter Academy Library. A regional Kahn building will be selected as the architectural context for students to respond to. Although the emphasis of the class will be on designing and making furniture, it will operate as an interdisciplinary collaboration between furniture design and architecture students, with each discipline contributing its distinct expertise, skills, techniques, and knowledge. The studio is offered in partnership with Form Portfolios, a local design business that works with the estates of renowned designers, including Louis Kahn, to steward their legacies. Representatives from Form Portfolios will contribute their knowledge and expertise of Kahn specifically, and the design industry more generally, in supporting the development of student projects.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00

Elective

To effectively address complex problems and work with diverse teams, designers must become skilled at directing their efforts in the service of new outputs and outcomes. This three credit seminar will introduce students to various theoretical and applied frameworks for measurable action. We will investigate how seeking impact shapes design activities, and examine how to use evidence-based practices to assess the effectiveness of our work. The course will read across literature in the social sciences, international development, activism, social-practices, design and business. Students will engage texts with one another in critical discussions and individually through written analysis.

Elective

This course offers an intensive exploration of sustainability in design through cross-disciplinary case studies, critical discourse, and reflective studio practice. Open to juniors, seniors, and graduate students from all majors, it invites participants to bring in-progress or prior studio work as the foundation for inquiry. Rather than initiating new work, students will reframe and develop existing projects through lenses of ecological literacy, systems thinking, and environmental humanities. Emphasis will be placed on developing language, grounding work in theory, and situating practice within broader cultural, political, and ecological contexts. Students will also explore pathways for design entrepreneurship, systems scalability, and potential product development within existing frameworks.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00

Elective